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[leng jai]

So more shit like Farcry Primal? That game was interesting for about 3 hours.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

So interpret this as more of a focus on gameplay. Sounds good to me, to be honest.

But their gameplay is not strong. See The Division compared to Destiny, game janky AC controls forever, nothing particular great about Watch Dogs gameplay. Games like Rainbox Six Siege and Rayman Legends are the exception for Ubisoft.

 

[Frozenprince]

More like they just want a Destiny, Division, and GTA Online style game where they don't have to spend a lot of time and money building an elaborate story, but just throw gamers in a virtual world and let them create and grind or do what they want etc. Not saying one way is necessarily better than the other. But it seems they don't want to invest in emotional and story heavy single player games now, just focus more on coop and multiplayer moba and online connected open world games, loaded with microtransactions and carrot/stick grinding to hook people.

Um.

 

[alr1ght]

Please buy our next open world online connected coop loot shooter game. Those don't need much story.

 

[OnimaruXLR]

I actually think it might be easier to implement halfway decent emergent stuff than it is to write good stuff

You can have cool emergent things happen if you stack enough systems on top of each other and they work decently. Writing requires... well, good writing, something that seems to be in critically low supply as far as games go in general and Ubisoft games go specifically

 

[dark10x]

So interpret this as more of a focus on gameplay. Sounds good to me, to be honest.

This isn't going to suddenly change the mechanics of a UbiSoft open world game. It just means you're doing the same shit but now without a purpose.

Destiny is an example of gameplay done right but still a game that would have benefitted from improved story telling. It felt hollow initially.

The Division is worse since it doesn't play anywhere near as well as Destiny and wastes its environment.

 

[pswii60]

The less story telling the better. Leave that to RPGs and adventure games. As an example, DOOM was a lot of fun this year because of its lack of story telling and it was surprisingly refreshing. I'm tired of cutscenes and I'm tired of the 'slow walk and talk' sequences.

I know a lot of people who only play multiplayer because of exactly this. They want to play, not watch a movie.

Edit: I'm not saying games shouldn't have a story, just that it shouldn't be forced on you in the ways described above, and instead through environmental clues etc. But then I prefer the 'text' of Phantasy Star Online over the cutscenes of Final Fantasy - somehow it just grabs my attention more and felt more investigative and interesting.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

From Software is the master of "less is more" when it comes to storytelling. So take lessons from them, Ubisoft.

 

[Iceternal]

I wish I had time to translate the whole article.

But he says he wants game to become "anecdote factories" where people want to talk about what happens in the world ( of the game) and not the story.

Here's another part :

" The game part becomes less important. What is interesting to me, is making worlds that would be interesting for me, even as a tourist. If I'm making a game taking place in San Francisco , even my mom should be able to have fun in it, drive a boat, a bike. The people in the world also have to be interesting and make you feel good. Then and only then, the players have to have fun. Through different ways : become a detective, an Assassin, a hacker, a hunter.

The player has a job in that world and has to become powerful on his own."

 

[Cheesewheel]

I guess they're running out of new ways to tell players why they have to climb towers.

 

[robotrock]

I'm probably fine with this. Just write some good characters.

 

[Neoleo2143]

I thought contextualization adds to the feeling of interacting with the world? That's definitely a part of storytelling and they want to take away that? It works for some games like Rayman but I don't think it'll be kind to games like Assassin's Creed.

 

[Frozenprince]

I wish I had time to translate the whole article.

But he says he wants game to become "anecdote factories" where people want to talk about what happens in the world ( of the game) and not the story.

Here's another part :

" The game part becomes less important. What is interesting to me, is making worlds that would be interesting for me, even as a tourist. If I'm making a game taking place in San Francisco , even my mom should be able to have fun in it, drive a boat, a bike. The people in the world also have to be interesting and make you feel good. Then and only then, the players have to have fun. Through different ways : become a detective, an Assassin, a hacker, a hunter.

The player has a job in that world and has to become powerful on his own."

That sounds incredibly boring after you do it once.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Fine, then I want less and less Ubisoft in my games.

 

[Pankratous]

Then I have no need to buy these games.

 

[kagamin]

General mediocrity? Come on. Not all stories need to be oscar winners to be engaging and fun. If you subtract the story and characters from something like Assassin's Creed 2 the whole game would just feel pointless. It's not a brilliant narrative but it's fun.

I'm not saying stories have to be absolutely groundbreaking and amazing in every way to be fun, this is coming from a huge Etrian Odyssey and general DRPG fan so take that as you will.

 

[guybrushfreeman]

I can't really imagine an Assassins Creed game with even less story. Those sandboxes aren't exactly full of 'emergent storytelling' in the first place. 'And then I yet again killed some guards and got the collectable item! The screen read 42/50 items found and so the search continued.' Yippee. They'd need to improve the value of the game play itself about a hundred times or more to create anything interesting.

 

[dark10x]

The less story telling the better. Leave that to RPGs and adventure games. As an example, DOOM was a lot of fun this year because of its lack of story telling and it was surprisingly refreshing. I'm tired of cutscenes and I'm tired of the 'slow walk and talk' sequences.

Doom works for a very specific reason. Ubi isn't going to start making Doom equivalents.

Throwing out examples of why games don't need stories is ridiculous when you look at the types of games Ubi makes.

 

[Avixph]

I'm probably fine with this. Just write some good characters.

But if there is no story, then wouldn't that mean that there is no characters?

 

[kurahador]

I wish I had time to translate the whole article.

But he says he wants game to become "anecdote factories" where people want to talk about what happens in the world ( of the game) and not the story.

Here's another part :

" The game part becomes less important. What is interesting to me, is making worlds that would be interesting for me, even as a tourist. If I'm making a game taking place in San Francisco , even my mom should be able to have fun in it, drive a boat, a bike. The people in the world also have to be interesting and make you feel good. Then and only then, the players have to have fun. Through different ways : become a detective, an Assassin, a hacker, a hunter.

The player has a job in that world and has to become powerful on his own."

Basically turning everything into The Division.

 

[Leafhopper]

They are so hit and miss with trying to convey anything with this open world design for a lot of their games by all means I guess.

Let whatever weird interactions you have in the world of your games be the story.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

I'm probably fine with this. Just write some good characters.

You will probably be creating your own characters.

 

[XBP]

Its clear that ubi wants to push for online worlds where story doesn't play a big part, most of their recent releases point to this. They can generate a steady stream of income through their games that way.

 

[Frozenprince]

Video games have such ridiculous potential as story telling vehicles because they are entirely interactive. The answer to "then why do they struggle with narratives" is not "well then lets just remove them all together".

 

[Dmax3901]

I mean on one hand I love storytelling in games, on the other hand Ubisofts storytelling has been rough as hell for years now.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Awesome. I wish more developers would forget about trying to tell a story and focus on gameplay, mood, atmosphere and art style.

 

[wapplew]

I only own 2 Ubisoft games this gen, Rayman and Tetris, fine by me.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I am fine with this. Im so over "cinematic gaming"

 

[Langdon Alger]

Video games have such ridiculous potential as story telling vehicles because they are entirely interactive.

I think interactivity and story telling are diametrically opposed.

 

[Kthulhu]

Minimal or no story is perfectly fine. Gameplay is what matters IMO.

 

[Filthy Casual]

Ugh, not a fan of that. For me a game is the sum of its parts, I need more than just satisfying gameplay in an action adventure game or RPG. Strip away the story from the Ezio trilogy for instance and I'm sure the games would not have been as good.

 

[SirPinkyNose]

But their gameplay systems and combat mechanics are terrible.
Their games are not DOOM or Shadow Warrior.

 

[Skelter]

For video games sure, but remove the caveat and those are all pretty mediocre.

By no means though do I think games should give up trying. The problem is a hard one to solve, as games aren't a pure storytelling medium like books, films, or tv.

But why should someone remove what makes a video game a game for the story to be good? It's like saying saying remove the acting from a film because it people get in way of the script. It's so ingrained and the positives of games is that story telling is interactive. Talos Principle, Fallout 2, Witcher, and many more pull people into incredible worlds and the writing brings it to another level.. Games can tell stories in a way books or film can't. Yes there is a lot of crap but not every movie is Arrival or even Dr. Strange there is crap like Trolls or whatever action flick.

I'd personally place KOTOR 2 above those ones but sure I agree, but of course the medium is filled with such general mediocrity in terms of story that people just feel they can dismiss all of it.

To be fair, Obsidian are kind of the best when it comes to writing. Kotor 2 is not only a great Star Wars games it's probably one of the best. I have yet to play a game with a better written female character than Kreia. Man, I wish Avellone was still with them.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Those are pure gameplay titles. That's not what UbiSoft makes.

They make open world games. That's the issue.

Open world is probably my favorite type of game. The reason I like GTA, Saints Row, and PC Bethesda games is the gameplay and freedom. I liked Bethesda games on PS3 as well but mods just added so much of a playground factor to them with custom gameplay tweaks, and overhauls. I have hundreds of hours in Skyrim and have only barely finished the main story. I got SE and put about 70 hours into it and have only went as far as the Shout old dudes at the top of the mountain, because I use them to train bow and stealth skills. My favorite GTA game is San Andreas and I never completed it's story. SA was my favorite playground, especially with it's fun cheats.

For Ubisoft, I never got into Assassin's Creed much, AC2 was ok, 3 bored me from the start so I gave up on it. I liked Watch Dogs' gameplay more than it's story, and I'm more interested in WD2's gameplay improvements with it's drones and San Andr.. San Francisco setting.

Edit: Also love FFXII because of it's chain system, real time with pause combat, and hunts, the story was bleh and I only go through it these days to get to the next areas and unlocks.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

it has become increasingly expensive to create believable story scenes that match the graphics of modern games, so it makes a lot of sense.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Every saying this fine either think Ubisoft make games with great gameplay or that this somehow signals the gameplay will magically become good. Unlikely. Prepare for more Divisions.

 

[Dalibor68]

I love how their response to the criticism there's been for years now of "Tired of this boring ubisoft formula with always the same generic collectathon/side stuff with no narrative payoff" is to say ok we'll have even less narrative. Just not gonna buy their crappy barfilling simulators then.

And aside from that I don't remember having anything close to "Battlefield Moments" in any ubisoft game of recent years other than R6S and that was never a narrative-heavy game to begin with.

 

[Vintage]

Prepare for The Division 2.

The Division had an amazing setting and technical capabilities to make a great storytelling experience, but was ruined by always-online design and non-existing story.

This "make your own story" bullshit doesn't work. Good gameplay can help create memorable experiences, not stories. Nothing is preventing to have both in a game. I am a terrible storyteller and the stories I make suck. That's why I pay money to play games from professional writers.

 

[Iceternal]

Prepare for The Division 2.

The Division had an amazing setting and technical capabilities to make a great storytelling experience, but was ruined by always-online design and non-existing story.

This "make your own story" bullshit doesn't work. Good gameplay can help create memorable experiences, not stories. Nothing is preventing to have both in a game. I am a terrible storyteller and the stories I make suck. That's why I pay money to play games from professional writers.

Indeed, it implies the player has a lot of imagination ...

I don't.

 

[Obliterator]

The story heavy, single player AAA game is slowly dying. Truly.

1st party games will slowly be turning into your last bastion for that.

 

[privitsan02]

Story was never the issue with Ubisoft games. Sure they aren't great for the most part, but that doesn't mean they should just scrap that entire line of thinking. Especially when they've come very close to great storytelling opportunities.

The main issue is the same type of game design. Now Rockstar, Bioware, Naughty Dog and Bethesda's line of games have a lot of similarities between them and is almost their personality or quirk, but Ubisoft release games with that same brand of style way too often for people to just not get tired of them so quickly.

Every big AAA title from Ubisoft since Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 has for the most part heavily borrowed similar game design philosophies to the point where they've drove that entire style into the ground in just 4-5 years. They need to change it up but I don't think removing storytelling entirely is the answer here. You don't need to be Naughty Dog or Rockstar, but you also don't need to be like Souls or Destiny.

Best wishes,

 

[Frozenprince]

"water cooler moments" will only carry your product so far if there is nothing other than "wow that was neat" one time to hold it up.

 

[mabec]

RIP BG&E2

 

[GhostOfSparta305]

Good, focus more on gameplay.

 

[oneofthose]

if it means for actual gameplay good

 

[Auto-Reply]

Please buy our next open world online connected coop loot shooter game. Those don't need much story.

This is what I was getting from that statement.

 

[Dalibor68]

if it means for actual gameplay good

I'm sure the story writers will suddenly transform into 10/10 gameplay designers. /s

Why would that even have any (relevant) influence?

 

[TheRed]

Ugh this sounds kinda bad for the future of Assassins Creed to me. The Division would've been way better if it had good storytelling too.

 

[jrcbandit]

This just means I wont be purchasing any more Ubisoft games. I like their open world games but I need a frame work to get me to want to do anything in it. I usually skip all the mindless busy work/collectibles Ubisoft loves to throw in and mostly do the main missions and a few side missions that lead to useful upgrades. Assassin's Creed would be so boring if it was all collectibles and randomly generated environmental missions. I wonder if it will be something along the lines of them having an introduction mission, then you have to do 30+ randomly generated missions (/yawn) to unlock the ending mission.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

The story heavy, single player AAA game is slowly dying. Truly.

1st party games will slowly be turning into your last bastion for that.

Mass Effect Andromeda and Red Dead Redemption are probably the two biggest 3rd party games of 2017 outside of Destiny 2(which could have a great story) and the annualized sports/shooter titles. There is PLENTY of room for strong story driven games.